The Appropriateness of Translation in EFL Learning: A Case Study of Albaha University Learners' and Teachers' Perspectives, KSA

Year 2016, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 0 - 0, 04.10.2016

Ahmad Shoeib

Abstract

The argument on the potential importance of using EFL/ESL learners' source language inside English classrooms has been a subject for prolonged discussions and brainstorming sessions for a big number of language scholars and professionals. The current study attempted to investigate EFL learners and teachers' perspectives on the role of translation in language learning. Two modified versions of [PRTLQ] translation questionnaire (Afzal, 2013) are administered to randomly selected 50 EFL students from level 3 and level 8 and 20 Arab teachers from Foreign Languages Department at Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Albah University, KSA in the academic year 2015/2016. Results of the study indicate that there is statistically significant difference in views on the usefulness of L1 translation between EFL learners and teachers in favor of the learners. In addition, level three students differ in their perceptions on translation from level eight in favor of those of level three. Furthermore, EFL teachers' attitudes toward translation don't correlate with the variable of academic degree, but they correlate with years of experience and translation or interpretation experience variables respectively. The findings can have remarkable implications for EFL teachers concerning the appropriateness of L1 translation in language learning contexts as an incremental productive teaching approach that might lead to an increase in overall English as a foreign language learning outcomes. 

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